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Tag: Minor International

  • BreadTalk Group to be privatised by founder and Minor International

    BreadTalk Group to be privatised by founder and Minor International

    A small group of key Breadtalk Group stakeholders, including founder and chairman Dr George Quek, have offered to acquire all the ordinary shares in the firm and delist the company.

    The group, including Quek’s wife Katherine Lee and existing shareholder Minor International, has formed a new company BTG Holding Company which aims to buy all the shares in Singapore-listed BreadTalk which has just posted a US$3.7 million loss for the year.

    Minor International is a Thai-based multinational food & beverage and hotel operator, whose food businesses include The Coffee Club, Sizzler, Dairy Queen and franchises in some markets for Bonchon and Burger King.

    The new company will be 74.9-per-cent owned by Dr Quek and related parties and 25.1-per-cent owned by Minor.

    Mint and Quek say they plan to undertake a review of the business following its delisting with a view to streamlining such business activities, refocus on and strengthen core business activities and explore the potential disposal of non-core property assets.

    Poor performances in China and Thailand have been implicated in the firm’s losses, as has the effect of social unrest on its businesses in Hong Kong. The current coronavirus outbreak is expected to continue to affect operations going forward.

    BreadTalk Group operates established food brands, including BreadTalk, Toast Box, Food Republic and Din Tai Fung, together numbering more than 1000 outlets.

    “I believe in the growth potential of the BreadTalk brands, building on today’s solid network of outlets and underpinned by Asia’s continued rise in household income,” said Quek.

    Group CEO of Minor International, Dillip Rajakarier,  said hsi company has invested in BreadTalk Group since 2012 because it believes in the brands and the company’s potential. “Today, we are delighted to further strengthen our partnership with Dr George Quek. With BreadTalk Group’s strong brand recognition, market knowledge of Singapore and China and expertise in the food industry, we have a strong growth platform.”

    The offer is being made under expectations that privatization will allow greater flexibility, as well as ease of management, with significant funding saved on maintenance costs involved with remaining a listed firm. It will only go ahead if acceptances are received for 90 percent of the shares by the time the offer closes, but given Quek and Minor between them currently hold 70.5 percent of the shares, acceptance would seem to be a formality.

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  • Minor takes The Coffee Club to Vietnam

    Minor takes The Coffee Club to Vietnam

    Vietnam Investment Group (VI Group) has signed a master franchise agreement with Minor International’s subsidiary Minor Food to bring The Coffee Club to Vietnam. Under the joint venture, VI and Minor plan to open 100 The Coffee Club outlets over the next five years.

    “With the flourishing coffee market and favourable macro trend, we are very optimistic about the opportunity to strengthen our presence in the country and grow The Coffee Club brand nationwide,” said Paul Kenny, CEO at Minor Food.

    According to Chaiyapat Paitoon, deputy chief financial officer and strategic planning for Minor International, restaurant businesses show strong potential in Vietnam because people “want a wider variety of cuisines, paving the way for foreign players to come in and offer different choices in addition to traditional, local and street food”.

    “The Coffee Club offers a distinctive restaurant experience with great selections of food and beverages menus, excellent coffee and a welcoming relaxed atmosphere enriching the contemporary lifestyles of the Vietnamese consumers,” said David Do, VI Group MD.

    The joint venture plans to open 20 The Coffee Club restaurants next year.

    Minor is no stranger to Vietnam’s F&B market. It first established its restaurant footprint there  in 2009 launching three casual-dining restaurant brands, including The Pizza Company, Swensen’s and Thai Express. It now has 83 outlets nationwide across those brands, 60 of them under the Pizza Company banner.

    Apart from The Coffee Club, Minor is also looking for opportunities to launch other restaurant brands into Vietnam at a later stage.

    Opening its first store in Brisbane in 1989, The Coffee Club claims to have become Australia’s largest home-grown cafe group with more than 400 outlets throughout Australia, New Zealand, the Maldives, Seychelles, Thailand, Indonesia and the UAE. Thai-headquartered Minor International owns 50 per cent of The Coffee Club.

    Analysis: Fit for Vietnam?

    Entering Vietnam market means The Coffee Club is competing with fast-growing coffee chains like local operators The Coffee House and Highlands, and international chains such as Starbucks and The Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf, the latter of which has struggled to gain critical mass in the market and several months ago closed its flagship in downtown Ho Chi Minh City. Fellow Australian restaurant chain The Hog’s Breath Cafe also gave up last year after about seven years in the market.

    If The Coffee Club’s Vietnam outlets follow the Australian format, they will focus more on lunches, brunches and dinners than coffee as their name might suggest, although it does serve coffee on site and for takeaway.

    The company faces challenges in sourcing ingredients, many of which will come from offshore, and finding real estate at an affordable price. Those two factors combined will create price pressure for the brand, despite the affordability of labour in Vietnam.

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